Some fast thinking by the driver of a small bus likely saved his passenger from being buried under a massive rock slide that is blocking a portion of British Columbia's Sea to Sky Highway.
Just before midnight, Tuesday the 24-seat Perimeter Bus Lines vehicle had reached the Porteau Cove area about 20 kilometres south of Squamish, when it was hit by a shower of rock.
But instead of hesitating, the driver put his put his foot on the accelerator and kept going, a move that likely saved the lives of the passenger, said Perimeter Bus Lines spokesman Mike Cafferty.
Seconds later, rocks the size of cars began raining down from the mountain, covering the road, which is now closed in both directions to traffic. "We feel blessed," said Cafferty.
In an interview with CT, passenger Luis Araujo described the scene.
"We heard this massive noise and suddenly it was like driving through a cloud of hailstones," he said. "Should we have stopped we would have been squashed under the rock slide."
Recognizing that he and the driver would have died if the bus had arrived just seconds later, Araujo feels he is very lucky to be alive. "Makes you reassess your life....anything can happen anytime."
Bus driver Peter Skeels said the noise of the rocks falling was so loud that he couldn't hear the windows smashing. "It was fortunate [Araujo] was sitting in the front because there was glass on every other seat."
